Beets Dosai, Awards and Tag

I have blogged dosais with beets - when i actually used the beets to grind the batter for the Idlis - this time I did it differently - the color was a lot more intense and it tasted even better!! This is a spinoff dish from the beetroot cutlets that I blogged last - I saved the juice water from steaming the beets and added it to my dosai batter and the result are the pink deliciouses! This picture was for my black and white Wednesday trial attempts :) For regular dosa recipe, look here.

This was a trial run for the B&W wednesday event :)

This was the actual picture!

I also had some cutlets leftover from the previous day and decided to make this an all beet meal -trust me when I say it was gone in seconds!

I am honored to say that I have been awarded by by Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal and Sumee of Sumee's Culinary Bites

And I accept these with the greatest honor and appreciation. Thanks ladies, you rock! 

I have also been tagged by Sobha Shyam of Good Food to answer 7 questions about my blog - I will post this as my next post since this requires some homework and I am a procrastinator when it comes to homework :P

Beets & Quinoa Flakes Cutlets

I was dreaming about the beautiful seaside café in the town I was born  - Pondicherry and the most exciting India Coffee House located right by the Gandhi Statue… a terrace where we sat inhaling the salty moisture of the Bay of Bengal while we waited with great anticipation for the cutlets… They were beets and potatoes served with raw onions on the side … We could not get enough of those! And this as usually rounded of with THE best cold coffee I have had! We came home completely sated. But no ICH here and I am my chotu or Lakshmi or who ever usually works in our homes in India L

A simple, healthy low caloric cutlet (burger) – Really?!! Yes that is what I am presenting you with two ingredients that have been touted as the best foods in their categories of seed/grain and vegetable- I am talking about Quinoa Flakes and Beets.

Here are facts about Beets
Here are some facts from Quinoa

The recipe is really cinchy!  It is wrought from a mom who wants to keep it really simple and yet have the WOW effect! Needless to say it was a hit! The quinoa flakes act as the binder much like bread crumbs do.

Ingredients
5 medium sized beets

1 ½ cups of Quinoa Flakes

1 cup of peas and carrots

1-2 green chilies

2 sage leaves

5 sprigs of Rosemary

1-inch stalk of thyme (about 10 tiny leaves)

Salt

1tsp curry powder

Preparation

Peel and cook beets in open stove in a pasta boiler or mw (do not pressure cook or they will get soggy)

Add the peas and carrots (I used frozen thawed)

Add salt

Add the quinoa flakes and mix in well

I tried making these in two methods

Method 1

A flat pan (like a dosa pan) I added 1tsp of oil and made little flattened balls and cooked them for about 5 minutes and flipped them over for another two minutes and then remove from heat

Method 2

I used my now ubiquitous  up-pum pan to make these. Perfect sized, half the oil  and wonderful soft, patties, crisp on the outside – voila!

Check out the pictures!

And I served them up with raw onions with cut up chilies and lemon juice squeezed on top.  Eat with me folks J

Potato-onion Roast With Garlic Rasam

For any south Indian, this is a menu that can be a default menu any day and it is a meal to come salivating back home to after even a week of travel to a country/ city where Indian food is hard to find! The “comfort” food in my home is rasam with spinach – but the potato-onion roast makes it a very festive meal J

My blogger pal, Priya of Bon Appetit had asked me to post pictures on FB, but I thought this is always a happy meal for all of us and decided to blog it

Here is the recipe

Boil, peel & dice potatoes (I always use the pink variety)

1 large pink onion chopped into thin slivers

Curry powder

Turmeric

Asafetida

Curry leaves

Oil

Salt

Cumin

Mustard seeds

Preparation

Use required amount of oil splutter cumin, mustard and asafetida.

Add the onions and roast for a bit

Add the boiled and diced potatoes

Add the curry powder (make as spicy or bland as you desire), salt and the turmeric powder and toss the potatoes around until all of them are coated evenly.

Add a little more oil and allow it to roast.

Add washed curry leaves and mix once more before removing from stove.

It should be golden brown

with yogurt rice and rasam on the side! bliss!!!

Rasam

1 can of diced tomatoes or 3 fresh tomatoes

3 cups of water

2 cloves of garlic finely minced

Turmeric

Cilantro

Rasam powder

Salt

Tadka with 1 tsp ghee – mustards, curry leaves, cumin and asafetida

Dal water – ½ cup

Preparation

Cook the tomatoes in some water. Cool and grind if desired

Add the rasam powder to the puree along with the dal water and allow it all to boil with some salt

In some ghee lightly brown the garlic 

Splutter the mustard seeds and cumin

Remove the boiled rasam from the stove and add the sauté

Add some freshly minced cilantro as garnish and serve hot with potato roast

A quickie meal, most satisfying, mes amies, as Poirot might say J

Sweet Potato Kofta

Kofta has always been a No No anytime I’ve been to a restaurant because the only kind you get is the “malai” koftas, meaning – cream koftas – They are heavy, lumpy and doughy and even in the very best restaurants are either over soaked and soggy, melting into the sauce OR you have the kinds that never soak and are hard and tasteless that stand alone, unrelenting.  And then over the past year that I’ve been blogging, I have seen some memorable koftas that have inspired me to come up with this one.

Definition of Kofta from the Oxford Dictionary

noun (plural same or koftas)

•   (in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking) a spiced meatball.

Origin:

From Urdu and Persian, literally 'pounded meat'

Look how far we have come from its actual meaning if we have wholly adapted this dish to a vegetarian palate

To the best of my knowledge these are deep-fried and soaked into hot sauce/gravy

So the kofta served by itself, is rather like a cutlet, along with a pita, a falafel and served with gravy the kofta curry we know so well to be an Indian gourmet dish.

Things that I like about my kofta

1)    I used a healthy substitute to the usual potatoes by using sweet potatoes

2)    I liked using Garbanzos for a fiber and low fat factor

3)    I did NOT deep fry it and that did NOT compromise on the taste an iota

4)    My gravy was just as healthy in that I used my standard gravy companions onion and tomato with chilies and some spices – adding NO cream whatsoever getting that creamy texture by cooking the veggies first and adding no more than 10 -12 pieces of cashews. The end result was immensely pleasing and I felt mighty triumphant that I had made this dish – finally – in my home and realized how cinchy it is to make it.

Bu But it would be remiss of me to not give credit to my new dippy pan that has inspired me to make several wonderful preparations.

I encourage you to try this combo at home and see for yourself how incredibly tasty these come out.

Off to the recipe

Add caption

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes

1 can of garbanzo beans

Green chilies – to taste

1 Red chili

Cilantro – 1tbs crushed

Sage- 2 leaves

About 1tsp of oil

Mustard seeds (optional)

Cumin seeds (optional)

2 tsp of curry powder

Preparation

Cook and mush the sweet potatoes

In a food processor, add washed and drained garbanzos and make a crumbly powder

In a pan, heat the oil and splutter mustard and cumin seeds

Add the chilies, herbs and the curry powder to the oil followed by the potatoes

Add the crumbled garbanzo

Add the salt and mix all the ingredients well

This mixture should be soft but thick now

Get the pan ready by placing it on low heat

Add some nonstick spray to the holes and ½ tsp of oil in each slot

I used an ice cream scoop to dole out the mix into the holes

Let the one side brown and gingerly flip over and brown the other side as well

Wait for it to get well cooked on both sides before removing from the slots

You can serve this as stand alone patties or cutlet dish with some raw onions and ketchup

You can use it as a Falafel and stuff into a pita and sink your teeth in verily

Or you can make kofta &curry with it, which was my original intent

For the sauce, simple sauté 1 big red onion and 1 can of diced tomato with required amount of spices (clove, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, red chilies, garlic (optional) and about 10 cahsews.

Let it simmer and cool before grinding

Pour the sauce in the desired serving bowl and then arrange the koftas in the sauce.

Serve with naan or rotis

Now Serving with love (:

Forget-Me-Not Sambusik Cookies

A Platter of Sweet Love :)

This is my second post in the Blog Hop Wednesday organized by Radhika of Tickling Palates – And this time I was very, very, fortunate in being partnered with Sweatha or Experiments, Emotions & Experience with Food – I must confess that this I love this event since it allows me to go into a blog and check it out in much greater detail that I have done when I just hop over to leave a comment – The versatility of Sweatha and her truly delicious recipes bowled me over – There were too many recipes for which I saying  - hey I want to try that and that and that one too --- I am certainly going to do that if not for the event, but for other occasions – Her blog is totally awesome and if you have not already checked it out, please do so…

That is a bell NOT a tulip!

Of all the wonderful recipes she had it was hard to choose which one to make, but I finally decided on her FORGET ME NOT SAMBUSIK COOKIES – I made these close to my hubby’s birthday and since I knew we would not be here during the actual date, made it a little in advance! We took some creative liberties in how we presented them for the occasion! check out the pictures below

Happy birthday to a most wonderfully, caring and loving husband and dad! WE LOVE YOU!

The Bell represents MANI in Tamil

The Moon is because that was/is his nickname

The two hearts are his and mine (corny but true)

The hearts around represent our kids and that he is surrounded by our love

The palm tree and the moon together represent our (hopefully) beautiful vacation at Bermuda (it was a wonderful vacation)

The dinosaur was for fun J

A little blurry :(

Blog Hop Wednesday

Kuzhi Paniyaram

As I try to expand our boundaries to try new recipes, ingredients, cuisines, I realize I have to touch home base every once in a while and make some really traditional & much loved and yet, rarely made dishes. One such would be Kuzhi Paniyaram I had bought myself the mold pan in Jan but had no space in my suitcases to haul it back, so when my brother brought in for me earlier this summer, I have been rearing to make these and Priya of Elaichi’s post reminded me of it and she also gave me the idea of using my idli batter to make these.  I had the batter and I was not afraid to use it!!(;

Varalakshmi Vratam is tomorrow and I will be celebrating it next Friday, But I thought a trial run would not be a bad idea of things to make with my wondrous new pan J It is pretty snazzy with non-stick coating etc and I was surprised at how little oil I needed to use as compared to the uberly oily/ghee-y paniyarams I had at Grand Sweets the last time I did have it a few years ago!!!

I also made other traditional dishes that I am SO excited to blog about, but I will confine this post to this fine delicacy from the Southern Heartland of India. It was like having Idli-vadais-oothappams without the deep-frying

Ingredients

Idli Batter

Green chilies

Onions (of course I will sub this with grated carrots if I am making this for a pooja)

Coriander

Grated ginger

Preparation

Per instructions on my pan, I used the lowest flamed burner on my cooktop

I sprayed some non-stick

I added 1 tsp of less of oil in each of the holes

I slightly diluted the idli batter so it was easy to pour into the holes

Each hole contains less that ¾ ladles of batter

I covered it with a steam-releasing lid

In 3- three minutes, I used a tablespoon to flip them over to the other side

If the inside is flowing it does not matter

It still flips quite easily

Cook both sides until they are golden brown

Remove and serve with your choice of sides (I used my tomato chutney again)

Actually I spiced it up the way I’d like for it to be a stand alone dish

Take some pics, that make them MOST appealing and have your friends drool over them so much they want to get their aprons on and get to work making them :)))))))

You might have noticed that I am learning new editing techniques with some cool effects – I am pleased at some of the feedback I have already gotten for the couscous post where I have tried these effects for the first time! – Feels like liberation to learn something new and cool, you’ll agree, no?

One round in the pan I got yields 7 and I had enough to make 2 batches – you can imagine how quickly those disappeared!!!Much healthier option than fried idlis, people! Enjoy and Happy Ramadan, Varalakshmi Poojai to all – I am happy that our calendars of festivals allows us to join our Muslim friends in at least one day of fasting and feasting. 

Linking this to Taste of Pearl City's Anyone Can cook Series 30 

Simple Summer Couscous

How many of you have seen the Night at the Museum 2 where Frank Azaria comes as Kahmunrah and lisps his way through the movie, adding to the fun & comedy of it?

Here is a famous line (at least chez moi) in which he says of Owen Wilson who is a miniature cowboy, “ Why, you are no bigger than a grain of Couscous” My son imitates that line to the little one (his sister) and for some reason this sets her off into great peals of laughter, which in turn causes the ripple effect of chuckles from the rest of us J

Never really tried making couscous so far since I have always had it as a cold dish with parsley (the cilantro impersonator to the not-so keen eye, or nose) and has the one middle-eastern/ Mediterranean dish I have not much cared for. But sometime in the last year I have bought some couscous from Trader Jo’s and a little rummaging in the pantry brought forth an pristine, unopened box of couscous. This is nice! I am trying to get back on the healthy eating track after months of summer binging on delicious yet not so waist-friendly foods. I decided I’d make it as interesting and Indian as possible without compromising on its origins J The verdict from me is, HELLO & WOW, Where have you been all my life, Cous dearest! (And try saying that with a lisp for added humor )P

So here is my simple summer couscous recipe  - 250 guilt free calories for this meal (:

Ingredients

½ cup of couscous for 2 portions

1 cup of water

1 tsp olive oil

Mustard seeds (optional)

Urad Dal (optional)

2 green chilies/jalapenos (fresh from my garden)

3-4 sage leaves (fresh from my garden)

1 sprig of spring onions (fresh from my garden)

2 tbsp grated coconut

½ handful of roasted peanuts, crushed to a fine powder

Salt

Preparation

Bring water to boil with salt and ½ tsp of olive oil.

Add the couscous and cook for about 6-8 minutes

In a pan, sauté in1/2 tsp of olive oil, the chilies & sage.

Add the cooked couscous

Top with grated coconut and turn

Next add the crushed peanuts and turn again until all of the ingredients are finely blended

Serve hot with some tomato chutney (recipe for this to follow)

With Tomato Chutney :)

Linking this to Taste of Pearl City's Anyone can cook series #30